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Invisible cancers: Seeing, knowing, enacting and proving cancers in Haiti

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  • Henderson, Rebecca

Abstract

In Haiti, pathological confirmation of a cancer diagnosis is often delayed or impossible, imaging is expensive and imperfect, and many tests are unavailable. Physicians frequently struggle to establish cancers at a level of certainty required by “evidence based” standards, delaying definitive diagnosis and rendering some cancers permanently “suspected.” I use 22 months of participant observation at the two largest cancer treatment programs in Haiti, as well as throughout Haiti's fragmented healthcare system, to look closely at processes of diagnosis and management of suspected ‘cancers’ which may never fully come to be. I argue that as global oncology becomes increasingly standardized, local practices are forced into alignment with a global knowledge basis that governs the knowability/unknowability of cancer. Using three case studies drawn from this work, I examine relationships among visibility, power, expertise and the replication of inequity through the governance of knowledge production. Finally, I examine the implications of these processes for cancer care in the global south.

Suggested Citation

  • Henderson, Rebecca, 2024. "Invisible cancers: Seeing, knowing, enacting and proving cancers in Haiti," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:347:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624001771
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116733
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cambrosio, Alberto & Keating, Peter & Schlich, Thomas & Weisz, George, 2006. "Regulatory objectivity and the generation and management of evidence in medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 189-199, July.
    2. Cogburn, Megan D., 2020. "Homebirth fines and health cards in rural Tanzania: On the push for numbers in maternal health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
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